Readers' Tips Summarized

Lose The Eraser With Turn Watcher

Turn Watcher(tm) is an easy to use Initiative and Effect
Tracker for table-top RPG dungeon masters. It tracks spells
and other effects, alerting you when those effects expire,
automates temporary hit points and hit point boosts, tracks
PCs, NPCs and monsters easily during combat rounds, and
handles delayed and readied actions in a snap. Use it to
perform secret Spot and Listen checks and even Will saves on
your players without them being the wiser. Download your
copy today!

A Brief Word From Johnn

Sweet New Writing Machine

A little while ago I picked up a great UMPC - Ultra Mobile
PC - for writing on the road. The Eee PC by Asus has a 7"
screen, wireless Internet access, Linux, and low cost. It
also has solid state memory, which means there are no moving
parts or hard drive, and so exceptionally durable.

GMs looking for a less expensive alternative to a laptop
should check it out:

Munchkin 6 - Demented Dungeons

Demented Dungeons introduces a new twist on Munchkin. Now
you can enter the Dungeon of Elvish Excess, take a Portal to
the Dungeon of Manga Wrangling, or power up in the Dungeon
of Unexpected Epicness. 20 double-sized Dungeon cards add
new rules that affect the entire party, and maybe the
monsters too. Use the 16 Portal cards to jump from one
Dungeon to the next in your search for gold and glory.

Munchkin 6 - Demented Dungeons is an expansion for the
classic Munchkin set, and was designed by Steve Jackson and
illustrated by John Kovalic.

The Spiral Method of World Building

By Hannah L.

One of a GM's biggest investments in a campaign is world-
building, and with all of the advice out there, it's easy to
get overwhelmed. A complete world needs a social structure,
a culture, a map, weather, a currency system, an ecology,
and a thousand other things. But how much of that really
comes up in the session-to-session life of the players?

If you're short on time, or simply don't want to create an
elaborate world - and plot - for a campaign that has a
chance of lasting only a few sessions, consider the "spiral
method" of world-building. I call it that because you take
the center - the players - and build out from there, but
without covering everything in the circle.

This method lends itself to a certain style of GMing over
the course of the campaign, by which I mean it's not for
those who shy away from improvisation. For a flexible GM
whose players are always choosing option "none of the
above," the spiral method can be a great way to get a
campaign started and keep it going with minimal prep.

1. Basic Principles

The key to spiral world-building is that the less detail you
start with, the more options you have in the future. This
might seem counterintuitive if you're used to heavily-
detailed prep, where all the behind-the-scenes plotlines are
known to the GM from the start. However, once you get the
hang of it, you will discover that scanty planning gives you
more chances to construct elaborate plots, not fewer.

With the spiral method, the idea is to gradually add onto
what you have as the players discover it - the more blanks
you leave, the more possibilities can fit into those empty
spaces. Defining something from the start makes it harder to
change as the plot dictates.

This does mean that you will have to take good session notes
if you want your campaign to be cohesive. Because you won't
have written things down before they happen, you'll have to
write them down afterwards if you want to remember them.

Since you'll be building your plot up gradually based on the
actions of the players, you're limited in terms of
foreshadowing and the like. The way to correct for this is
to throw in random details, note them down, and then bring
them back at a later time when it seems like they might be
relevant.

A bard singing a tale of ancient adventurers might be
nothing, or it might turn out your party will go on a
similar journey, or an evil force from the tale will
reawaken. A shortage of steel in three consecutive towns
might be due to bad luck, trouble in the mines, an increase
in bandit activity on the roads from the mountains, or the
king's new tax on steel to support the cost of his coming
war.

The most important thing is to let go of the need to know
exactly what's happening in your world. You don't need to
know why the blacksmith doesn't have enough steel to fix the
fighter's greataxe; you just have to remember that that was
the case. Later, when happenings in the plot seem like they
would affect the availability of steel, leave some clues
linking the situations.

This is one of those times when listening to your players is
a great way to come up with plot ideas. They might figure
out the connection between the steel shortage and the main
plot before you do.

2. World Background

If you want your world to have a unique flavor, pick one or
two ways to showcase it. You don't need the royal lineage,
currency, religions, guilds and exotic weaponry all fleshed
out. People in a remote village are unlikely to experience
all of those things in full, and your players are even less
likely to remember them.

Instead of describing everything that gives your world
flavor, outline the important things and flesh out only one
or two categories. In one particular world I ran, I gave the
players no background information, but instead, a list of
what transportation was available. This included horses,
specially bred dire dogs, trained dragons, enchanted pookas,
and highly unreliable alchemical motorcycles.

From this information, players could infer this was a high-
magic world with a lot of alchemy, non-sentient dragons, and
plenty of mythical beings. I didn't have to describe the
weapons for them to know standard medieval fare would be
most common, enchantments were plentiful, and guns were
present but prone to blowing up in their owner's face.

We're half a year into the campaign now, and I still haven't
told them exactly what races are present in the world.
They've met humans and gnomes so far, but they don't know if
there might be more strange beings in the land beyond the
northern mountains. Had someone wanted to play, say, an elf,
I would have had to decide whether or not that was possible.
But since the characters have yet to encounter any elves,
there's no reason for the players to know if elves exist.

Obviously, not all players or all GMs will be comfortable
with quite that level of vagueness in such an important
facet of the world. Deciding which features of your world
you can handwave and which you need specifics on will save
you time and allow you to go all-out on those few features
you do decide to put detail into.

3. Mapping And Plot

Sketch a rough outline of the world. Not anything detailed,
but just the basics - what countries or kingdoms there are,
obvious geographical features, such as oceans and major
mountain ranges, etc. Fill in only the capitols of each
kingdom, and maybe a major city or two.

If you plan to choose a starting area for your players, even
the above information is unnecessary. Skip the broad
outlines and settle on the place where your party's
adventure will start. Either way, this area will need the
most detail. If you do choose to start with a rough map, and
the players hail from different areas, add a few details to
those places as well.

If your players need more information to flesh out their
backgrounds than you've provided, consider a bit of
collaborative world-building. Your bard wants to be from a
small island nation? Throw one in that empty patch of ocean
off the coast. The party's fighter trained at a monastery in
the mountains? Sure. There are now three different
monasteries in that small range to the north; which one is
he from?

While you're drawing in all that geography, don't forget
about the plot. Perhaps the players start in a small farming
village, with a main road connecting it to another village.
The area around both villages is heavily forested, and full
of dangerous creatures. There are a few small streams
running through the forest, but the nearest river big enough
to sail on is just past the second village. Thus, all trade
from the starting village must go via the road, creating an
excellent opportunity for banditry.

This is enough plot and geography for the first session, and
you've created it in little time. All you have left to do is
stat out a few bandits, and plant some rumours about how the
attacks have been getting worse in recent months. The
village will need a tavern and perhaps a blacksmith or
general store, and one or two colorful NPCs who may be
linked to the plot.

The more confident you are in your ability to improv, the
less of the village you have to prep. Certainly the party
will interact with the innkeeper, but are you sure they'll
be stopping by the general store? If you feel you can come
up with some prices and a shopkeeper off the top of your
head, why plan those things out? If the party skips on
shopping, you'll have saved valuable time you can use in
spicing up the bandit encounters.

4. Planning Encounters

Flexibility and creativity are the keys to making loosely-
planned encounters interesting. You know the players will be
fighting some bandits, but there's a number of ways that
could go. Does the party venture into the forest to track
down the bandits? Or will they journey down the road with
the next merchants, hoping to guard them against an attack?

Rather than make thorough plans for all eventualities, have
a few vague ideas in mind about what could happen either
way. Given the party's level, a group of about five bandits
might be just the right challenge. Stat out that group - no
matter what happens, they are what the party will encounter.
If the party hacks their way into the forest, the five
bandits are a patrol. If the PCs choose to guard the road,
the bandits are a typical raiding party.

Decide on general tactics for the bandits. They're cowardly
and not expecting adventurers, so they will probably flee in
the direction of their base once two or more of them have
been slain. But what if the party's plan relies on
interrogating a bandit hostage? Well, then the bandits are
tougher than usual and determined to fight to the last man,
or you now have an interesting chase scene on your hands.

You've said there are streams in the forest, but did you
draw them on the map? If not, then no matter which direction
the encounter goes, the fleeing bandits have the option of
escaping over a small rope bridge and chopping it down
behind them. As far as the players know, that stream was
always there, and you're a masterful GM for having planned
out the forest so well.

You now have an interesting encounter that can go any number
of ways, and all you did was stat out five bandits and
decide that they're probably cowardly. The bandits can call
for reinforcements, use caves or streams to their advantage,
or just disappear among the trees. All you have to know is
that those are possibilities - you don't need to decide the
location of other bandits, or the precise geography of the
forest.

If you want the fleeing bandits to lead the players right to
their base, that can happen. If it fits the situation for
the base to be a day and a half's hike away, then as far as
the PCs know, that was always the case.

If you're the sort of GM who feels uncomfortable running
combats without a map, then draw some generic maps of the
kind of terrain the players are currently traveling through.
When a combat comes about, quickly sketch in a few relevant
features to make the map interesting, and you're good to go.

Planning and running encounters in this way might take
getting used to. The impulse is to plan for each
eventuality, but you're better off planning for none. I've
found that GMing in this way is actually a lot more
enjoyable. I never have to worry about railroading players;
in fact, I'm having just as much fun discovering the plot as
they are. I'm still running things behind the scenes, but
rather than being a Machiavellian plotter, I'm just along
for the ride.

5. Expanding The Storyline

When your players are closing in on the bandits' camp, it's
time to figure out just what those bandits were doing there
to begin with. After all, you planted rumours that banditry
was up, and there has to be some reason for that.

Maybe the bandits turn out to be down-on-their-luck farmers
from a neighboring area, who've been suffering unusually
poor crops. This might just be a bad season, or perhaps some
evil mages are summoning a demon who's playing havoc with
the weather.

Alternatively, the bandits might be paid mercenaries, hired
by a local lord. Why? The bandits don't know, so you don't
have to, either. This local lord lives in a keep a day's
journey down the river from the forest's edge, next to a
slightly larger village. This village has a few shops, and
is known for its extravagant temple. Until the players get
there, that's all the information they - and therefore you -
need.

Once the players have finished off the bandits and come up
with a plan for dealing with the lord, it's time to figure
out why they're doing so. As it turns out, this lord has
ambitions to extend his power, and he's trying to bring the
nearby villages under his rule. He was hoping the villagers,
after being plagued by bandits, would be forced to turn to
him for aid.

He wants control of the villages so his tax and recruitment
base will be expanded. This will enable him to challenge the
lord of the adjoining province, who probably has some
schemes of his own up his sleeve.

A few more sessions down the road, the players might realize
they've stumbled into a whole nest of feuding lords,
competing for an increasingly unstable crown. Maybe the lord
whose bandits they first foiled is really a pawn in an ever
larger game, instructed to provoke a conflict with his
neighbors so the king's forces will be sent to deal with the
disturbance, diverting them from a brewing rebellion halfway
across the kingdom.

This sort of ever-growing spiral expansion also lends itself
to reversals. What if the rebellion is necessary to topple
an unjust king? The rebellion's leaders feel the ends
justifies the means, or maybe the local lord just got a
little over-eager in his maneuvering, and wasn't supposed to
be harassing hapless peasants as part of the scheme.

The players might be confused as to why they'd seen no signs
of an unjust king earlier, but remind them that news travels
slowly to isolated villages. And what about that steel
scarcity? It was caused by the king impounding steel
shipments to arm his forces.

Of course, you can stay more than just one step ahead of the
party and use this method to come up with a full plot from
the beginning of the campaign. However, you run the risk of
your players choosing to go in an entirely different
direction, and rather than laying down rail just in front of
their rapidly accelerating train, you'll have to fumble to
get them back onto your carefully prepared tracks.

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles RPG

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles RPG picks up where the DVD
movie begins. The return of the Robotech Expeditionary
Force, the separation of Rick Hunter and the SDF-3 from the
rest of the fleet, and everything else that is part of the
universe of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

Readers' Tips Of The Week:

1. Make Your Campaign Beatable

From: Danny East

Some gamers are goal oriented. They enjoy playing games to
win. Due to their open-end nature, RPGs pose a bit of
difficulty for such players. To encourage these folks to
roleplay, and help them enjoy RPGs in a way they can relate
to, try adding an ending goal to your campaign design. Make
your campaign "beatable."

Have tangible group goals. The campaign is over when these
goals have been met. This might last for generations of PCs.

They have to defeat the space pirates, and own their own
fleet to monopolize the heavens before they can retire.

They have to (Diablo style) clear out the mines before the
Dwarven Kingdom can return.

They must collect two of every species and build a space
ark to inhabit another world before the comet strikes.

A deposed prince must regain his throne, putting his
fellow adventurers into their respective positions for the
court. All courts need a jester, wizard, bodyguard, priest,
general, and spy. Once there, you can roll credits.

The detective agency (complete with thief, cop, face man,
computer guru, mechanic, and tank) must arrest the hard to
find, well defended, and notorious gang leader, thereby
bringing peace to the city. A peaceful city needs no
detective agency.

Have a specific, pre-designed, final goal for your
individual characters. The politician has to be elected
Prime Minister, the entertainer has to get her own TV show,
the fighter has to win a championship, and the necromancer
has to raise an army of 2,000 to gain admittance into the
next realm.

These are goals that would take the character out of
adventuring, therefore "retiring" them to an NPC.

Reward more XP to players for completing plot-related quests
than you do for hunting random monsters. Keep the hunting
in, though. It's fun. But use it as a vessel for the
campaign, not just as a leveling device. This will help keep
the goals game and character specific.

The possibilities are as endless as the plot twists. Be sure
to tell your players at the start of character creation what
their final goal will be.

Players with a goal are players with focus, and players with
focus are determined to play the game to the limits of their
imagination and ability. That will breed enough excitement
to fuel the next campaign. So, let them beat the game.

2. Use Real Estate Brochures For Mapping

From: David Hickman

I was thumbing through a magazine and saw something that I
just had to pass on.

Go to a nearby realty company and pick up some magazines for
houses, the ones that show the floor plans. These are
excellent maps for on-the-fly, ready-made dungeon crawls,
taverns, fortified manors, mansions, common halls,
government buildings, or whatever.

If things are too close together, just add some halls
between the rooms, plus some traps and furnishings for
flavor, and viola, you have a ready made...whatever.

3. 100 Statue Rooms

A living statue that attacks the first person who touches
a certain door.

A statue that opens up a secret door when turned.

An electrified statue, which does double damage if hit by
a metal weapon.

A statue that is just a statue.

A cracked statue with a skeleton inside.

A cracked statue, with an undead skeleton ready to burst
out of it.

A statue holding a real bow and arrow.

A living statue holding a real bow and arrow.

A statue full of gas holding a real bow and arrow.

A regenerating but otherwise normal statue.

A statue equipped with a talking mouth, pretending to be
a trapped person.

A statue equipped with a talking mouth, not pretending
to be anything.

A living person turned to stone but able to talk,
pleading for help.

A statue that, when touched, teleports the toucher to
one of three rooms at random.

A statue with a trap door just in front of it.

A living statue wearing an amulet.

A living statue wearing a fake amulet.

A living statue wearing a cursed amulet.

A statue wearing a fake amulet with a fire trap on it.

A statue wearing a cursed amulet with a fire trap on it.

A cracked statue with a living statue inside.

A cracked statue with a gold treasure inside.

A cracked statue filled with army ants, which are
released when it is smashed.

A statue standing on a hidden catapult; when touched it
smashes against the ceiling, and rains down on those in the
room.

A cracked statue acting as a cork to stop a river of lava
beneath it from flowing into the room.

A statue that, when smashed, teleports three living
statues to the room.

A statue that teleports out of the room if something is
about to damage it.

A cracked statue with a hidden portal inside it.

A statue holding a potion of flesh to stone.

A statue holding a potion of stone to flesh.

Two statues; 30 and 31.

Two statues of statue 30.

Two living statues locked in a never-ending battle, one
symbolizing good, the other, evil.

A statue with a potion, which is actually fast-drying
glue that reacts when moisturized by something, such as a
swallowing throat.

A statue with a false potion that explodes when the
potion is touched.

A living statue holding a potion that turns the imbiber
into a rat. The statue will attack any rats it sees.

A living statue holding two potions; the first turns the
imbiber into a rat, the second turns the imbiber into a cat.

A statue holding a rope stretched out in front of it. If
someone pulls the rope two things happen: the statue falls
through a trap door under itself, and the rope changes into
a chain around the pulling person's hand.

A statue standing in the ceiling of the room, holding a
rope stretched down to the floor with a bell on the end. If
the rope is touched, a reverse gravity spell is cast on
everyone in the room. They will fall upwards and take
damage. The bell on the rope chimes out loudly, and guards
armed with crossbows arrive for target practice.

A statue holding a hammer and a gong stretched out so
they can be taken; if someone hits the gong, guards will
arrive.

A living statue holding a hammer and gong stretched out
so they can be taken. If anyone tries, the statue attacks
with the hammer, using the gong as a primitive shield. Every
time the statue is attacked and hit on the gong, guards
somewhere in the dungeon will laugh and hurry to the battle.

A statue holding a hammer and gong stretched out so that
they can be taken. If someone hits the gong, the owner of
the dungeon flees with all of his or her treasures.

A living statue swinging a huge hammer on an anvil; if a
non-magical weapon is placed on the anvil, it gets +1 or
more.

A living statue swinging a huge hammer on an anvil; if a
non-magical weapon is placed on the anvil it is destroyed,
and the statue attacks the weaponless person.

A huge statue surrounded by a boxing ring; anyone
entering the ring is attacked.

A crystalline statue; if destroyed everything else in the
room made out of crystal turns to dust.

A crystalline statue; if approached it activates all
potions in the room, acting on random characters.

A crystalline statue. If touched, it heals a person with
a small amount of hit points. When the statue is touched the
fourth time, it will instead hit that person with a
fireball.

A crystalline statue, just made out of (expensive)
crystal.

A statue crying blood.

A statue crying blood. If destroyed, it will explode,
bathing everyone in blood. Good characters take acid damage,
evil characters gain a permanent hit point, neutral
characters just say yuck!

A living statue crying blood. It attacks if someone
touches a certain door.

A statue crying blood; if touched it will crumble to
dust, revealing a huge, blood red diamond.

A statue crying blood; if touched it will teleport the
toucher to the dimension of nightmares.

A cracked statue crying blood; if destroyed, a rotten
corpse falls out. 10% of the time, the statue instead holds
treasure.

A cracked statue crying blood; if destroyed, a demon
escapes from it.

A cracked statue crying blood; if destroyed, a trapped
person is released from it.

A statue holding a mirror; anyone looking into the mirror
will turn to stone.

A statue holding a mirror; anyone looking into the mirror
sees into a random room of the dungeon.

A living statue holding a mirror. If someone looks into
the mirror, it explodes in the person's face, damaging and
possibly blinding them. The statue roars, "you're too ugly
to live!" and attacks.

A statue holding a signpost with "turn left" written on
it. There is a trap in the room to the right.

A statue holding a signpost with "turn right" written on
it. There is a trap in the room to the left.

A statue holding a signpost with the text "turn left" or
"turn right." There is a trap in the room that the sign
refers to.

A statue holding a signpost with the text "turn left" or
"turn right." Both rooms in these directions hold traps, but
if the statue is turned in the right direction, a secret
door will open.

A statue bulging with muscles. Describe it in a way that
heightens the sense of danger. If anyone attacks the statue,
a stonemason will run out in front of it and scream, "Don't
destroy my masterpiece! The lord of this dungeon wants to
buy it, but hasn't paid for it yet."

A living statue. It asks to join the group, because it is
bored with this dungeon.

What appears to be a statue, but in reality is a statue-
mime hired by the dungeon lord as a spy. If he is untouched
he will warn the lord, and when the players come to the end
of the dungeon there will be no big boss and no treasure.

Two living statues having a spirited argument.

A living statue which, if attacked, will run through an
opening. If followed, it will run straight to the lord of
the dungeon, throw itself at his/her feet and scream, "Help
me master!

A living statue which, if attacked, will run through an
opening. If followed, it will run to a room filled with five
other living statues that are ready to fight.

A living statue which, if attacked, will run through an
opening. If followed, it will run down a corridor with a
classic giant boulder trap. The boulder will send both
statue and players running, but what stops the statue from
grappling a player and committing hostage suicide?

A statue with a sign around its neck reading "do not
touch."

A statue with a sign around its neck reading "do not
touch." The statue is electrified.

A scantily clad living statue. It will flirt shamelessly
with any characters of its preferred gender.

[no statue]

An angelic statue. If touched it will radiate sun -
vampires will be crawling, but most can walk away with a
nice tan.

An angelic statue. If an evil character touches it, that
player will be teleported to heaven (which can be bad for
the bad).

A devilish statue. If it is touched, the room will be
consumed by a sea of flame, burning all non-evil characters
to ashes.

A devilish statue. If touched, it will giggle.

A recently ruined statue, signaling the players aren't
alone in the dungeon.

A statue which, if touched, will secretly steal the top
item in that player's inventory. If the statue is destroyed,
the item(s) will be returned.

Statues of each player. If touched, they will dissolve
like the illusions they are.

A statue of the lord of the dungeon. If it is smashed,
the lord of the dungeon will vanish with all of his
treasures.

An enchanted statue of the lord of the dungeon. It
grants the dungeon lord 20 extra hit points, but if it is
destroyed he will lose those hit points permanently.

A statue of the lord of the dungeon. He has a big ego.

Two statues of the lord of the dungeon. One of them is a
living statue guarding the other against vandalism.

A cracked statue. If smashed, an impersonator is freed
that resembles one of the players. The impersonator will
claim to be that player. The true player has to prove
his identity.

A cracked statue. The statue imprisons a player who was
previously secretly replaced by a doppelganger.

A cracked statue. If smashed it releases a ghost.

A statue of a mime searching a wall. (Even the lord of
the dungeon hates them.)

A living statue that appears to be chopped to bits. If
anyone touches a certain door the illusion will break, and
the statue will try to chop the players to bits.

A statue that will turn the first who touches it to
stone. The former statue will become an NPC, who will refuse
to touch the new statue and take the curse back onto
himself.

A statue looking like an ice elemental, in the middle of
a strange room where the floor slopes to each exit. If
players touch the statue, ask them on which side they are
standing. The floor will turn to ice, and all players will
slide down the slopes in front of the openings. There may be
more traps at the end of some slopes.

A statue which, if touched, will reach out and touch that
person in return.

A female statue which, if touched in any way, smacks the
offender.

A living statue that mimics the nearest person.

A living statue. If it is touched the entire floor of the
room falls down into lava pits, revealing that the statue is
build on a huge stalagmite towering up from the lava.

A living statue. If anyone touches a certain door, it
will attack and activate a stone to lava spell on the floor.

Erh, I think I'm out of inspiration. Why don't you just
roll twice on this table and see what troubles your players
will have?